Loose Ends
by StillThereForMe
Summary: After Ember Island Players, Zuko and Katara talk privately about their shared histories with Jet. How they were both sucked in and betrayed, and how they both still wish things had gone differently. Implied JetxZuko, and JetxKatara.
1. Loose Ends Found

Hey everyone! Long time no see. A lot has been going on the past year, that's been keeping me extremely busy. Then, when it finally started to calm down, I fell into a writing rut. But while on livejournal, I came across a ficlet by suzukiblu, and suddenly got a story idea for Avatar: The Last Airbender. So with her permission, I jumped on it and came out with this. My first fic in a while, so hopefully it isn't too bad!

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**Loose Ends**

By: StillThereForMe

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To say that the Ember Island Player's production of _The Boy in the Iceberg_ had dampened everyone's mood, would be an incredible understatement. Aside from a few quips about how bad the show had been, no one said much at all that night. Toph, who'd been incredibly joyful throughout the show and was usually a chatterbox, didn't make a single joke and not even Sokka could lighten the mood or change the subject that hung heavy in the air. The entire group went to bed in a daze, and tried to forget all the worries and bad memories the show had brought up for all of them.

The next morning, Aang (with help from Sokka) made the announcement to everyone that they were not going to let the dumb play keep them down. The stress over what might happen if they lose would not help them win. The play was inaccurate on plenty of other things, so there was no reason to think ending especially was going to be true either.

"In fact, it could just give us the advantage!" Sokka argued passionately. "If this is what the Fire Nation is taking as the truth and believable, it just goes to show how little they actually know about us! I mean, after all this, they still don't even know what Toph looks like! They barely have any of our personalities really down, which just goes to show that the enemy, even when they go around the world trying to gather facts, doesn't really know us that well at all. And that means they all, including the Firelord, could very well be underestimating us and what we can do."

Zuko, who had barely been listening to begin with, took this moment to walk away from Sokka and Aang's 'let's not let the play keep us down!' speech and walked towards the beach, only catching occasional lines like 'they don't even know when we'll attack them…' and 'they forgot so many other people who'll be helping us…' but didn't really give the words a second thought.

Zuko had a different problem. The ending wasn't the main issue stuck in his mind after that ridiculous excuse for entertainment. Even the horrible parody of his personality (especially insulting given that he'd been a fairly prominent fixture in the Fire Nation for most of his life, and in just three years his image has been so warped) wasn't annoying him anymore. It was all the things that had really happened. All the truths that _were_ shown—however exaggerated—on that stage. And the truths that weren't.

Zuko had spent all of the night before beating himself up for all those memories and decisions that had hurt his uncle and went against what his mother wanted. But his talk with Toph yesterday had actually helped. He didn't feel quite as horrible about all of it realizing his uncle _would_ probably be proud of him for finally coming around—and he had a feeling his mom would be too. And this morning, he had woken able to forgive himself for most of his bad choices to a point, justifying them by the fact that they had helped him eventually take the right path. He still felt terrible when he thought about his past mistakes, though no longer in in a crippling way. However, those memories weren't what was now clouding his mind.

He obviously couldn't have known everything that had happened to Aang and all of them before he joined up with their group. Zuko could've guessed they'd been through a lot—he had been too—so most of both of their pasts didn't matter so much. Most of what they had gone through wasn't going to affect their future together, so the majority of what he had learned thanks to the show didn't matter that much at all. He didn't _want_ to know most of it either. After all, most of those situations he could tell just from the gang's reactions weren't accurately portrayed. Of course, there were some truths in there, things he could piece together on his own reading between the lines and bad dialogue. Things he didn't know how the playwright could've found out about, but made him slightly sick when he tied up some of those loose ends.

Zuko stood by the water as his mind seemed to go in circles. He picked up a rock and threw it at the water.

"I didn't even know they _knew_ Jet…"

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"Hey, where's Zuko?" Aang suddenly asked in the middle of his lunch, looking around the courtyard-like area.

"I think he headed towards the beach in the middle of your 'let's all be happy and not worry about how we might get burned to a crisp and die' thing this morning…" Toph commented, with a smirk.

"He _what_!" Sokka shouted annoyed. "Who just walks out during an inspirational speech? I mean, it's not like he was already Mr. Cheerypants and didn't need any lightening up! That is so rude!"

"Not that rude if you didn't even notice him leave." Katara pointed out.

"I just hope he doesn't think this means he has to train harder like I did." Aang mentioned worriedly, recalling his difficult time before the eclipse. "The last thing I need is a firebending teacher who's too stressed to help me train."

"Yeah, a stressed-out Zuko isn't going to help anybody, including him." Sokka agreed seriously, bringing his hand to his chin in thought. "But how to we convince Zuko that he's not going to get killed in a huge fireblast by his evil psycho sister when there's a very good chance that exactly that will end up happening…?"

Suki lightly slapped the back of Sokka's head, as Toph added in "I'm not sure the end of the play is what's really bothering him. I mean, he was pretty upset at the intermission too. And not about how bad his actor was making him look like the rest of you guys, but more about how it was basically bringing back really bad memories. You know, about his uncle and stuff. I tried to cheer him up about it, and let him know that his uncle would be proud of him now for coming around, but maybe he's still down about it."

"Yeah, you might be right Toph. I hadn't thought about that." Aang agreed. "Seeing all the mistakes you made would put anyone in a bad mood."

"But I thought feeling guilty and bad about all the mistakes he made in the past was why he joined up with us in the first place. Why would seeing a stupid actor do the same things make him really depressed again?" Sokka argued.

"Not everyone has as easy a time forgiving themselves as you Sokka." Katara countered.

"Hey, I'm just saying—if he's going to feel terrible every time he thinks about a bad choice he made, we're going to have a real serious problem. We're in the middle of a war, and just feeling bad about the past isn't going to help us win. We've got to think about the future and what we can do now, which Zuko would've understood _if he had stayed and heard my whole speech!!_"

"Oh get over it already." Toph groaned. "It's not like everyone who _was _there was totally listening anyway."

"Excuse me! I'll have you know I worked pretty hard this morning on that speech! The least you all could've done was pay attention throughout the whole thing!"

"I can't help it if you were boring me and my ears started blocking out your voice after a while! It's habit." Toph shrugged.

"You know, maybe it's not just seeing all his mistakes that's bothering him…" Suki suggested, holding an angry Sokka away from Toph.

"What do you mean?" Aang asked.

"Yeah, then what else is upsetting crankypants?" Sokka snapped, giving up on getting to Toph.

"I mean, yeah the play showed all the mistakes he made in the past, which probably wasn't that great to sit through, but that's not the only thing it showed." Suki tried to explain, searching for the right words.

"You mean, the parts about us?" Aang suggested, confused.

"Why would _that_ upset him? Anything he didn't cause wouldn't make him feel guilty." Katara argued.

"Yeah, usually if it wasn't him hurting us, it was his sister and I doubt he's upset over her," Sokka pointed out.

"No, you guys don't get it because you were the main focus of most of the play," Suki clarified. "I mean, while I was watching parts with you guys getting hurt or in trouble, I was feeling guilty because I wasn't there to help. While obviously some parts were exaggerated and all, I'm assuming most of it was based on fact, and knowing that I wasn't even around or thinking about how close you guys came to getting really injured or hurt in those situations…"

"But it wasn't your fault. You had to defend Kyoshi Island, and then you were out there helping, just not with us. And then you were in jail, so there wasn't much you could do," Sokka assured her.

"Yeah, but that doesn't change the fact that I wasn't there to help." Suki continued. "I could've left with you all, or tried harder to find you, or even stayed with you after running into you again at the Serpent's Pass."

"You had other people who needed your help," Sokka argued.

"What does any of this have to do with Zuko?" Katara asked, annoyed and still not understanding where Suki was going with all of this.

"I think that is the point Katara." Toph jumped in. "Maybe he was feeling bad that he wasn't there to help you guys either. I mean, obviously I couldn't have done anything during most of that because I was stuck at home with my crazy parents who barely let me walk on my own, but Zuko was out with his uncle who was basically a good guy, and he knew what you all were doing. Maybe he's feeling bad that he didn't help back then."

"But he was still trying to capture Aang up until he joined us! Or teaming up with his sister. He wouldn't have helped had he known where we were all those times before." Katara snapped with a bit of leftover anger. She had forgiven Zuko after he'd helped her with the Southern Raiders, but that didn't mean she was completely over everything he'd done before he joined up with him now. She considered him good now, but she was still a little bitter when it came to issues before his change. "He wasn't on our side before, even when he was confused. Why would he feel guilty about not helping us at random times like against his father or whatever?"

"Because he's good now and wishes he was then?" Toph snapped back.

"Not just that," Suki argued, with a heavy sigh. "I mean, well maybe he does feel guilty about not turning sooner. But also, maybe he didn't realize all the other hard things you guys and other people also had to go through because of the side you were on. Like Sokka and Yue turning into the moon spirit, or those sick villagers Katara had helped out as the Painted Lady, or your friend dying. I mean things like that."

"Now that you mention it, he did seem kinda shocked when Jet died in the play…" Sokka recalled.

"He did?" Katara's head snapped up in surprise towards her brother.

"Yeah, didn't you hear? You were sitting right next to him. Although maybe Zuko was just confused, I mean, the show was pretty vague on what happened to Jet too…" Sokka trailed off.

"Well, someone should go talk to him. Zuko probably doesn't want to talk to anyone, but he could probably use it." Aang decided as he looked around the group, trying to decide who would be best to do it. "Otherwise he might just keep feeling guilty."

"And there's probably less of a chance he'll walk out if it's just one-on-one." Sokka added, half ready to go himself.

"I'll do it," Katara announced as she stood up before anyone else could move, brushing some of the dirt off her outfit.

"Really?" Sokka exclaimed in surprise.

"You sure _you're _the right one to talk to him?" Toph asked doubtfully and crossed her arms.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Katara demanded.

"Well, I know you two made up and all after your little trip, but just a few days ago you were kinda ready to kill him. So I'm not sure you're the best one to go cheering him up." Toph reasoned, still sitting on the ground.

"A short while ago, _nobody_ trusted him!" The waterbender argued annoyed.

"I did."

"I mean, except you. And that's because you didn't know him before."

"I knew his uncle, and his uncle's view of him. And anyway, after we agreed to let him on the team, Aang and him started training and getting along, Zuko and Sokka went off to rescue people and they came back all buddy-buddy, and just the other day you snapped at Zuko for rescuing you from falling rocks, and got all upset when everyone else was congratulating him for helping us get away. See the difference?" The blind girl explained as she sat still calm and confident.

"That's because I had issues I needed to deal with. Which I did, thanks to him and I forgave him after that. We're fine now." Katara insisted, holding back some of her temper.

"Hey, maybe you guys are fine now," Sokka interjected suddenly. "But I think I'm with Toph here. Not to say you're still holding a grudge or anything Katara, but given the shaky history you two have, maybe you're not the best one to go cheer him up."

"Or maybe she is." Suki popped in.

"What?" Aang fought off the memories of the show that had Zuko and Katara as in some weird relationship. It was just a messed up play after all. "Why Katara?"

"Yeah, maybe you've been in the sun too long Suki." Sokka suggested, pulling his extra vest over her to shade her in as she rolled her eyes.

"Maybe because Zuko and Katara have a less than great relationship will make him more convinced she's _not_ just being nice and trying to cheer him up. Maybe he'll take the advice more seriously if it comes from her." The Kyoshi warrior reasoned calmly. "And maybe it'll help you guys get along better in the long run."

"Thank you, Suki," Katara smiled at the other girl on her side.

"And if not, you can always waterbend some of the ocean waves into a shield if he shoots a fireball at you." Toph taunted, to which Katara answered by bending some of the water from her pouch to drench the earthbender.

"Well, I'm all for the team getting along better. So I guess you win Katara." Aang decided, and smiled at the Water Tribe girl. "I hope you can cheer him up and let him know the important thing is, he's part of the group now."

"Thanks Aang…" Katara forced a smile and walked off towards the beach.

And as she walked she pushed the guilt she was feeling down. Just because she had her own reasons for wanting to talk to Zuko didn't mean she couldn't cheer him up too.

But they never had found out why Jet was arrested by the Dai Li in the first place at Ba Sing Se.


	2. Loose Ends Tied

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And finally, the part with the idea I originally had!

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**Loose Ends**

By: StillThereForMe

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Zuko was still tossing rocks into the water when Katara found him. When he didn't seem to notice his presence, she decided to bend the ocean water around one of the rocks he'd just tossed in, holding it up a little and making it the top of a mini fountain, with little sprays in a circle around it. Zuko turned to look at her then, smirking slightly.

"Cool trick."

"Thanks." She gave a small smile and let the water go, and the rock fell into a small wave with a tiny splash. "Is this what you've been doing all morning?"

Zuko's face turned serious again and he sat down with a sigh. Katara moved to sit near him, slightly concerned, and wanted to seem attentive.

"Kinda, just been thinking." Zuko shrugged. "Nothing to worry about."

"About the show?"

"Sorta. I'm guessing Aang or someone sent you to talk to me? I'm fine, you guys don't have to be concerned." The former prince assured her with a glance. "I just need a little time alone to sort some stuff out."

"I figured that would be your reaction. And yeah, they did want someone to come down and talk to you." Katara informed him, staring at the waves. She then looked at the boy next to her, seeing only his scarred side from her angle. "But I volunteered because I had something else I wanted to talk to you about too. One on one."

Zuko slowly turned his head towards her a bit more, allowing the waterbender to view the some of his unscarred face, as he asked in a serious voice "is this going to be another 'screw up and you've got no destiny' threat?"

Katara couldn't help herself and burst out laughing at the suggestion. "No! Nothing like that…"

Zuko, however, remained rather serious as he continued to stare. "Then what?"

A sick feeling gripped Katara in her gut, which allowed her more control over herself and to calm down. She knew what she wanted to ask about, and the answer could either be nothing, or it could be what she suspected, or something else. No matter what Zuko said though, it really wouldn't change anything. Which made her feel selfish to even be bringing this topic up, but she couldn't help it. Unlike with the Southern Raiders, she couldn't justify this selfishness either, because this wasn't seeking to avenge her mother's death or protect Aang or anything. This was her prying into Zuko's past for nothing more than her own curiosity. And for some other feeling that she couldn't quite place at the moment. But she had a nagging thought that this feeling wasn't going to go away until she had an answer.

"Well," Katara stared at the sand between the two of them, running her palm through it, unable to look Zuko in the eyes as she scrambled for the right words. "It's about the show last night."

"Oh," Zuko turned away as well, choosing to look back at the waves. "What about it?"

"It's just, I know the play was exaggerated and really ridiculous at parts, but…" she took a deep breath, and looked up at Zuko, who seemed to be trying to avoid her gaze. "I wanted to ask about your reaction to when Jet died in the show."

"What do you mean?" Zuko asked, glancing at her, then away again, both his facial expression and tone of voice defensive.

"Did you know Jet?" The question came out more as a demand, a statement, than what it was.

The banished prince bit his lip and looked down towards the sand. "…yeah. I did."

Katara wanted to know more. She stared at the boy's face, trying to image how on earth Jet and him crossed paths. The most reasonable explanation was that somehow, in Ba Sing Se, Jet had found Zuko in that tea shop and knew he was from the Fire Nation. Instead of telling the police, he probably flew into a rage and started openly accusing them right away, trying to rally other people in the shop against Zuko and his uncle. Being an Earth Kingdom city, Jet had most likely thought everyone else would be as offended by the idea of Fire Nation being there as him. Or maybe Jet just lost it at the thought and simply attacked them. But Ba Sing Se being as messed up and crazy as it was, Jet probably ended up just getting arrested instead of his claims investigated. And then in order to shut him up (since Jet would never listen to just a warning or something) the Dai Li did that brainwashing on him. And he was stuck like that until she and the gang found him.

That was the simplest and most logical explanation, given what Katara already knew happened to Jet from his Freedom Fighter friends and Jet himself. It was probably what happened. Jet would have gone nuts if he'd found out there was someone from the Fire Nation in the Earth Kingdom capital. He of course, would have thought he was doing the logical thing, making open accusations or even attacking Zuko and his uncle. They were at war with the Fire Nation, and who knew what horrible things Fire Nation people could do being in one of the wealthiest rings of Ba Sing Se? He would have had to stop them before they hurt someone. Jet always thought he was doing the right thing.

Even Katara's first reaction when she saw Iroh and Zuko in the tea shop had been to warn the Earth King. It was simple enough to figure out what Jet's reaction would have been. Jet couldn't have gone to the Earth King. And even if he could have, he would have wanted to do something right then and there. And that's probably why he got arrested.

But no matter how many times Katara repeated the logical story to herself, it fell apart looking at Zuko. If Jet had been such a random guy, who all he did was disrupt one day at his uncle's teashop, or even if he attacked, why did Zuko look so down? Why was he hurting? Why couldn't he even look Katara straight in the eye if the worst Jet did was attack him or his uncle before he was arrested?

"How did you know him?" The water tribe girl finally asked, forcing herself to focus on Zuko's reaction and answer, and not look away.

Zuko shifted, brought his knees up and wrapped his arm around them. "Well…we…it's complicated, okay?" The boy glanced at her as he finished.

For some reason she couldn't explain, that brought a small smile to Katara's face. She leaned back on her arms, and stared as a wave crashed against a boulder, as if in some futile attempt to move or drown it. "Yeah…it usually is with Jet."

Zuko followed her gaze towards the ocean and for a while, they both just sat there on the beach, watching wave after wave repetitively slam against rock and cliff and boulder, finally weakening against the sand. The silence between them was heavy, once and a while one of them would glance at the other, but end up returning to the hypnotic waves of Ember Island. Until the firebender finally made the move.

"So…was that part true?" Zuko asked tentatively.

"What part?"

"I mean…the show screwed up a lot of relationships, but…you and Jet?" The scarred boy turned his head to face her.

"Well…" Katara cursed her cheeks for heating up a little, but then smiled a little spitefully at Zuko. "It was complicated."

"Oh," he glanced down a bit guilty, before Katara quickly amended her answer.

"Yeah, we were," she bit her lip and looked at the sand beneath her dark fingers again. "At least, I think so. It was always hard to tell with him."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Zuko nodded, and looked down as well.

And from that statement, Katara knew she wasn't going to learn anything, unless she came clean herself. Her chest seemed like was being choked tightly, and she had a nagging feeling about exactly where this conversation was going. And Katara didn't want to know. She really didn't, because Jet had caused her enough pain. And yet once again, on some masochistic impulse, when it would be perfectly okay to leave it alone, she had to get involved again.

Maybe because it was Zuko. Despite the whole Southern Raiders incident and all he had done for the group, she still couldn't help but hold a bit of a grudge against him. She'd forgiven him, but their relationship hadn't moved much past that, not even to friends. She was thankful for his help, both personally and for Aang and the group, and she did trust he was on their side. But honestly, she felt closer and fonder of Suki than she did of him. Her and Zuko, they were on the same side, and that was all. The one thing she'd ever bonded with him over—the loss of their mothers, which she didn't even know that much else about—had been quickly followed by his betrayal and the near death of Aang. And though she forgave him, that bond was no longer there.

But then of course, Jet has to come along and offer to connect them. And, no matter how painful he made things, it was always impossible to ignore Jet.

"The play wasn't totally off on how we met him." Katara began. "Except that, he had a group of kids he led around, a bunch of orphans who looked up to him. They'd all been hurt by the Fi—by the war, so they had this big treehouse thing they lived in."

"His freedom fighters?" Zuko offered suddenly.

"Yeah," Katara nodded, surprised. But when Zuko didn't say anything more, she continued. "His freedom fighters…they all really looked up to him and were very loyal. United against a common enemy I guess. Anyway, they took it upon themselves to protect their forest from the fire nation…"

"Katara…no offense but…I'm not really interested in them."

"Right." The kids were easier to talk about though. She sighed. "We ran into him after he saved us from this Fire Nation army camp we accidentally stumbled into. I thought he was…well, really impressive and inspiring. I mean, he wasn't a bender, he didn't have any family or anyone to look up to, yet he was able to lead this big group of kids and take down so many soldiers. Something at the time, me a novice waterbender, Sokka, and even Aang weren't able to do. He was incredibly confident and smart. This boy, who'd lost everything, was going around making a difference and fighting soldiers, and had inspired so many others to follow him. Right from the start, both me and Aang were pretty charmed. Sokka I guess was the only one smart enough not to get sucked in. Especially after he told us his story. He said he needed me and Aang's help filling up this dam because some firebenders were going to be coming around and trying to burn their forest down. I bought it hook line and sinker. Aang did too. But it turns out, the only reason he wanted to fill the dam, was so he and his group could break the wall holding it back, and flood the town right by the forest—killing Fire Nation soldiers, but also a lot of innocent villagers. Luckily Sokka warned them in time. But he wasn't even _sorry_ about it. He lied to us, was willing to attack and kill innocent people, all for this twisted greater good!"

"I see…" Zuko nodded. "That's all that happened?"

"Well…most of it." Katara admitted. "We were only at his treehouse place for a little while but…I spent a lot of time talking to him. I really liked him. All these things he said, his ideas and hopes, and everything he'd went through—he really didn't seem like a bad guy. I've never been able to open up and connect with someone so quickly. He seemed he understood everything. And we…well…" She cursed her blushing cheeks that gave away more then her words did. Sokka and Aang didn't even know about this. "It was nothing that serious, but it was more than I'd ever done with a boy before. I just felt like I could really trust him. And then it turns out he's so much more twisted than I had realized. And he didn't even care. Or maybe he did but…"

"He couldn't handle it." Zuko finished, looking at her with understanding and for once, that didn't anger Katara.

"Yeah," the water tribe girl nodded. "I ended up leaving him frozen to a tree. After that, neither Sokka or Aang ever mentioned him. Which I didn't mind. When we ran into him in Ba Sing Se… he claimed he had changed but I didn't believe him and attacked him. It turns out, the Dai Li had brainwashed him, trying to get him to trick us into leaving. Luckily we ran into some of his Freedom Fighters who let us know he'd been arrested. We did break him out of it—the play didn't show that but we did—and then went after the people who brainwashed him. Unfortunately…the Dai Li were really powerful, and Jet got really hurt. I couldn't really heal him, and then he and his friends told us to go on after the Dai Li without us. We just left him there…" Katara sighed and looked down. "And that's the last time we saw him."

"So…he's not dead?" Zuko asked.

"I couldn't heal him, and he was really badly hurt," Katara explained. "And we never saw them after that. It's possible, but I can't imagine that if they were alive, we wouldn't have heard from them by now. Especially after everything else that happened in Ba Sing Se."

Zuko looked down and agreed "yeah, there's no way he wouldn't have been involved in that."

"It's just not fair!" Katara snapped angrily, annoyed as her eyes started to water up a bit. "He wasn't a bad person…just messed up. He should've been on our side. He should have been helping us. It's not even that he died…I'm not sure even if he lived, he'd have been with us. There was nothing to show that he wasn't still going to sacrifice innocent people. At least not when he wasn't brainwashed. But…it wasn't like he wasn't trying to do good. Just the way he did it…things could've been so different. But his way of helping people meant innocent people died and got hurt…"

"He was trying to change." The scarred boy interjected, stopping the other's ramble before she even realized she was. "At least, I think that's what he was trying to change."

Katara wiped her eyes, still annoyed that they teared up in the first place. "How did you meet him?"

"On the boat ride to Ba Sing Se," Zuko explained. "My uncle and I were going to hide there. Jet overheard me complain about the crappy food they were serving us, and asked if I wanted to help him steal some of the good food the captain was hiding. I agreed, and then we gave it out to all the other passengers on the ship. I would've been fine leaving it at that but…after he wouldn't leave me alone. And my uncle was so happy that I was actually making a friend, that he just encouraged it. He sat with us, ate with us, was always talking to us. His friends too, but I don't think they liked me very much. They were always annoyed whenever they were around. And then Jet started wanting to talk to me one on one. He said he could tell we were the same, both outcasts. He claimed he could tell since he first laid eyes on me. Because of my scar."

"Oh!" Katara exclaimed, it finally sinking it how Jet _would_ react to someone with such a blatant burn like Zuko's. Of course he'd assume the wrong thing.

"Yeah," Zuko nodded, and unconsciously touched his own scar. "At first, he was really annoying. But there's not many places you can avoid a person on a tiny boat. And no matter how much I hinted at him to leave me alone, he'd still end up coming over with that stupid smug grin. And eventually, I didn't mind so much. Even though he had the wrong idea about me, the things he said…I could relate to him a lot, I guess."

"Jet was nothing if not a good talker," Katara nodded.

"That's not the only thing he was good at," he added, then seemed shocked at his own words not a moment later as his face turned red.

Katara blushed too, "well, yeah…"

"I'd never even _thought _about things like that before Jet…" Zuko continued, although Katara wasn't sure if he realized he was talking out loud. "There was always something else to focus on I guess. But Jet… I mean, he never hid the fact that he hated the fire nation. And he had said that he'd done things in the past he wasn't proud of." He turned to Katara, as if just remembering what his initial point had been. "He wanted to start over in Ba Sing Se. And he kept asking me what I was planning to do when I got there. And it's not like I could tell him 'oh, just lay low and hide from my dad and sister—you know, the king and Princess of the Fire Nation.' So I kept just not answering him and avoiding his question. But he never got mad." Zuko laughed bitterly. "He even asked me if I wanted to join his Freedom Fighters!"

Katara didn't know what to say, so just kept silent.

Zuko paused, before almost whispering "I was never ashamed of who I was, not even after my father banished me or my sister tried to take me prisoner. I was never ashamed, until Jet." He then looked at Katara with an expression she'd seen only twice: when in prison in Ba Sing Se, and after they rejected him the first time at the Western Air Temple. "He called me 'Li'…He never found out my real name."

"What happened?" Katara asked softly.

Zuko sighed, and rested his forehead on his knees. "My uncle."

"Your uncle?" She repeated confused.

"After we got off the ship, Jet tried to get me to join him again. I told him no, which I don't think he appreciated, but he probably would've tried again later on. Except, a few minutes before my uncle had just bought some tea, and had been complaining that it was horribly cold. When I got back to him after talking to Jet, he'd _firebended his tea_, to the point that it was easy to see the steam coming out of it! And my guess is Jet must have seen it. Because the next time I saw him, he was coming into our tea shop in the lower ring, his hook swords swinging and shouting that my uncle and I were both fire nation. No one believed him, which just frustrated him more. I grabbed two swords from a guard and fought him off, and the entire time he was demanding I use firebending on him, or ask my uncle to, and rambling like the twisted person I guess I always had known he was. I could hear my uncle telling him he was wrong and to calm down, and maybe he would've if I had said something. But the whole time he was wildly swinging swords at me, I didn't say a word…I guess I didn't want to lie to him. Or maybe I still felt guilty because he was right. And I didn't want him to be. Because the look on his face throughout the whole thing…it was like he couldn't help what he was doing. And then before I knew it, he was being arrested. Because of me. I mean, it's not like I could've said 'no wait, don't arrest him he's telling the truth!'"

"I'm sorry Zuko." She sighed. "That's what I was saying. Even if he had lived, I'm not sure he would've been able to help. For all his talent at talking and convincing and fighting…he just couldn't seem to control himself."

"I guess I'd always sort of hoped that I'd run into him again. Especially after I joined up with you guys." The firebender admitted. "To prove to him that even though I was a firebender, I wasn't like those guys who burned down his village. At least not anymore. And maybe he'd be okay with it." He sighed. "Although I never really believed it'd go that easily. But after Aang mentioned to you before we left for the Southern Raiders, when he mentioned 'Jet', I had really thought I had a chance you know. At least to apologize to him. But no, instead I ended up getting him killed."

"It's not your fault Zuko." Katara assured him. "I blamed myself for a while after that. Maybe I could've healed him if I tried harder, or if I'd been watching him more carefully when we were fighting. But blaming yourself doesn't lead to anything useful. You can't keep beating yourself up over it."

"But he wouldn't have gotten arrested in the first place if it hadn't been because of me!" Zuko snapped.

"So it's your fault for being born what you were?" Katara argued. "Zuko, the only one who's really the cause of all of this is Jet. If he hadn't been so twisted…seeing some steam shouldn't have provoked him to go charging in to the teashop weapons blazing."

"…you're right." Zuko admitted. "But still…"

"Believe me, I get it…" The girl looked down, eyes shadowed by her hair.

"I had really thought that it could've worked. That if I had to start over, maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I had someone like Jet to help. Which was so stupid considering I knew how he felt about the Fire Nation but…I thought, we shouldn't be able to get along so well if it isn't destined to work out okay, you know? That maybe it wasn't such a problem, maybe it was some strange way of making us both get over our issues…that for me, maybe I could have a life outside of the Fire Nation, and for him, to find out that not everyone in the Fire Nation was so bad…but I guess that was just me being stupid. Once he came into the shop, the look in his eyes…"

"Like no matter what you said, it wouldn't make a difference to him," Katara finished. "It wasn't stupid Zuko. It was just…it was Jet. He should've been on our side. He should be with us right now, on our team. But…"

"But he's not."

"And the only way he would've been able to be with us, is if he'd been able to let go of all of that anger and hate…at least enough to not be willing to sacrifice an entire town to kill some soldiers. Because he wasn't a bad guy, he was just…he was just too extreme, too wound up. But then, if he wasn't, he wouldn't have been Jet…"

"At least not the one we knew." Zuko agreed sadly with a nod. "And I get that in my head but still…"

"I know." Katara shook a little, holding back a small sob and moved over to hug the boy next to her. "I still wish he was here too."

* * *

And that's all. Reviews and constructive criticism appriciated!


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